Album reviews: The Lemonheads | We Were Promised Jetpacks | Rachmaninov | Alyn Cosker | People and Songs of the Sea | Andre Hajj | The Echo Hunters

Published on Sunday 14 June 2009 19:41

POP

THE LEMONHEADS: VARSHONS

****

COOKING VINYL, 11.74

EVAN Dando should consider always singing other people's songs because this covers album is the loveliest thing he has recorded in years, encompassing the familiar (Leonard Cohen), the cult (GG Allin) and the downright obscure (Der F*ckEmos, anyone?). Liv Tyler contributes a breathy guest vocal on Cohen's Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye, Kate Moss crops up to little avail on the suitably mechanical Dirty Robot, but much of the album is bathed in a warm, psychedelic country glow, with Dando rivalling Mark Lanegan as the nouveau Johnny Cash on his version of Townes Van Zandt's Waiting Around To Die.

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS: THESE FOUR WALLS

***

FAT CAT, 10.76

THIS Edinburgh-born, Glasgow-based quartet are the latest post-Idlewild/Snow Patrol contenders for your consideration, to be filed beside such indie folk contemporaries as Frightened Rabbit and My Latest Novel. WWPJ are a slightly rockier proposition with gutsy, heavily accented vocals from Adam Thompson who is occasionally guilty of overdoing the chest-beating angst. It's mostly music for serious young men by serious young men, but the Talking Heads-style guitars of Moving Clocks Run Slow and the xylophone and brass-tinted build of Keep Warm catch the ear.

FIONA SHEPHERD

CLASSICAL

RACHMANINOV: 32 PRELUDES

*****

HYPERION, 12.72

IN THE most famous of the Rachmaninov Preludes – the C sharp minor, Op3 No2 – Steven Osborne sets out his stall for this astonishingly good full set recording. The opening unisons strike an expectant note, ringing and resonating like giant church bells. The ensuing discourse is extreme in its emotions, the thunderous power of Osborne's climaxes almost superhuman in scale. From there on in, he delivers the Ten Preludes Op23 and Thirteen Preludes Op32 with equal brilliance, gravitas and insight.

They are tried and tested by the Scots pianist, who trailed them in live performance – and in combination with Debussy's Preludes – at the Edinburgh Festival a couple of years ago. But this release bears the additional intensity of the studio, and a polished degree of production – by veteran producer Andrew Keener – that brings intimacy and expansiveness to Osborne's mastered interpretations.

Several pianists these days appear to be experimenting with ambient eccentricities in the recording venue, such as the odd penchant for natural echo. The sound quality in these performances is straightforward and direct. The pianist himself provides the subtlety of inflections. Osborne's musicality is exquisite, addictive and sensational. This is a disc you'll want to listen to over and over again. I already have.

KENNETH WALTON

JAZZ

ALYN COSKER: LYN'S UNE

****

LINN RECORDS, 12.72

THE title of drummer Alyn Cosker's debut album as a leader derives from a mistake on a computer print-out of what would otherwise have been Alyn's Tune. All but one of the dozen selections, singer Maureen McMullan's concluding soul ballad When Autumn Comes, are his own. His current high-power trio with guitarist David Dunsmuir and bass guitarist Ross Hamilton is at the heart of the instrumentation, both in trio format and augmented in various combinations by characteristically inventive contributions from saxophonists Tommy Smith and Paul Towndrow, trumpeter Ryan Quigley and pianist Jason Rebello (the full ensemble is heard only once – but to glorious effect on Twitter and Bisted). As well as signalling his developing talents as a composer, the disc is primarily a vibrant showcase for the funk and groove elements of Cosker's playing. His overall command of a wide range of idioms and his mastery of the complexities of asymmetric metres and cross-rhythms energises the music in compelling fashion.

FOLK

VARIOUS ARTISTS: PEOPLE AND SONGS OF THE SEA

***

GREENTRAX, 11.74

GREENTRAX are well practised in putting together this kind of thoughtfully structured thematic compilation. The stimulus for this one was Shona MacMillan's series of ongoing exhibitions bearing the same title, inspired by her late mother's memories of growing up in the fishing communities of East Lothian. MacMillan and Ian Green of Greentrax have assembled an often moving collection, drawing not only on the Greentrax catalogue, but on recordings licensed from other labels and some specially recorded items by MacMillan and an amateur choir from the fishing communities. Amond the more established performers are The Corries, The McCalmans, Davy Steele, Catherine-Anne McPhee and – appropriately enough – both Archie and Cilla Fisher. MacMillan's notes and photographs add an extra dimension to the project.

KENNY MATHIESON

WORLD

ANDRE HAJJ AND ENSEMBLE: INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC FROM LEBANON

***

EUCD, 10.76

WHILE Lebanon has lurched from political crisis to political crisis, with civil war blasting civic life to smithereens, the preservation of its traditional music has been a quiet triumph. Students at the conservatory have taken performance on the oud and kanun zither to impressive new heights, and oud-master Andre Hajj is one of these. Born into a musical family in 1967, he gravitated early to the oud, and has taught it for 20 years; three years ago he created his own group, Amaken, with whom he now tours the world.

This album draws on influences from Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Persia (musically-speaking, that is how Iran is universally still known), but its basic aim is to display the versatility of the traditional Oriental ensemble, with the addition of the tabla and other instruments from further east. So here we have the basic musical elements of taksim (improvisation), tasleem (chorus), and unison melodies on flute, fiddle, and oud, all aiming to induce a state of tarab (ecstasy). Much of the time, the atmosphere is that of a decorous jam session, with each player listening intently to his colleagues before making his contribution. The solos have a lovely resonance.

THE ECHO HUNTERS: CABIN FEVER

***

SWEH, 13.70

THESE favourite sons of the Montreal folk/roots circuit are due to perform – at venues yet to be fixed – in Scotland in late July, but meantime here is their latest offering. Its 12 tracks are all very easy on the ear, with echoes of Crosby Stills and Nash and 1970s California in the general ambience. Sometimes the finger-picked guitar riffs sound Central Asian, and there's a general sweetness to their sound. Flute, mandolin, piano, fiddle, and percussion all enrich the mix, and the melodies really sing.

MICHAEL CHURCH